Defensively, a pair of transfers from Southeastern Conference schools will battle for playing time at defensive end. Former Auburn player Chris Landrum was listed as a first-teamer on the Gamecocks' 3-4 defense. Kameron Wood, a Birmingham native who transferred in from Ole Miss, was listed behind Landrum.

“These are guys that have worked hard,” JSU coach Bill Clark said. “They've worked hard to get into that two-deep. There are some guys that I've talked about that are right behind them. We don't list those guys because everybody asks for a two-deep, but they are two-and-a-halfs as I call them. I feel like we've got three guys at a lot of spots that can play, so there were a few guys that got left off. Hats off to the guys that got to be in that two-deep.”

Clark also was pleased with the team's two-hour practice Friday.

“I thought we had a good day,” he said. “The heat is back, and they handled it a lot better today. We worked out in the stadium, which is always good to get out on the turf where we are going to play. We had the influx of new guys that came in when school started and they are doing a really good job. It helps us, just from the look team that we need and they are getting better every day.”